Today’s Stats
As of today, Lee Health has:
- 283 COVID-19 patients isolated in our hospitals
- Submitted 41,181 specimens for testing
- Discharged 1,743 patients since the start of the pandemic
- 459 employees quarantined (due to travel, community exposure and screening); 18 exposed at work and positive for COVID-19
- Currently 58% of our ventilators and 11% of our ICU rooms are available for use
- Current census is at 95% of staffed operational bed capacity, with 23% of those being COVID-19 patients.
- Yesterday, we had a 21.8% % positivity rate on COVID-19 tests processed through Lee Health Labs. This represents Lee Health only, and not Lee County as a whole.
- Click here for graphs showing a running total of specimens collected for testing and positive cases hospitalized
Today’s News
A Message from Dr. Larry Antonucci
This week personified the resilience of our community and dedicated frontline health care workers that I have spoken of often over the last four months. While it may be too soon to call it a trend, we have discharged more COVID-19 patients than we admitted each of the last three days. This is very good news. Today, Lee Health is treating 52 fewer COVID patients in our inpatient facilities than we were on Monday. We’ve also seen a decrease in positivity rate on tests processed through Lee Health labs.
I want to thank our community members who are taking proactive precautions to keep themselves and their loved ones safe. When I am out, I see more people wearing masks than ever before. People are paying attention to how close they are standing to others. I believe this is reflected in our improved numbers, and I want to thank everyone for doing their part.
An Update on Our COVID-19 Mobile Collection Sites Hours and Days of Operation
To better serve our community, the Cape Coral Chester Street mobile collection site will increase its operation to six days per week starting Monday, July 27. The collection site located at the Chester Street Resource Center, 4816 Chester Street in Cape Coral, will operate from 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
Additionally, due to safety concerns caused by daily afternoon storms, the outdoor Page Field collection site will operate from 7:30 a.m. – 2 p.m., on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
As a reminder, all mobile collection sites run by Lee Health are by appointment only.
For a full list of COVID-19 mobile testing locations, including sites not run by Lee Health, and for information on who can get tested and how to make an appointment, click here.
Donate Blood and Save a Life
The Lee Health Bloodmobile is collecting blood from 1-6 p.m., on Monday, July 27, at the Chick-fil-A located at 13610 S. Tamiami Trail in Fort Myers.
Routine blood donations by caring donors in our community help us maintain a well-stocked blood supply. All blood collected through the Lee Health Bloodmobile stays in our community and helps patients in our health system. The blood collection process remains safe, so tell your friends and family to come and donate, too.
Keeping Children Healthy During the COVID-19 Outbreak
Join Denise Drago, M.D., Lee Physician Group pediatrician, on Facebook Live from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m., on Thursday, July 30, for an important discussion on how to keep your children safe during the COVID-19 crisis. For questions and to reserve your spot, please call 468-0050.
Join Us for “FACTS, Not Fear” Virtual Town Hall Meeting
You don’t want to miss the “FACTS, Not Fear” Virtual Town Hall Meeting set for12:30 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 5 featuring Larry Antonucci, M.D., MBA, Lee Health president & CEO, and K. Alex Daneshmand, D.O., MBA, chief quality and patient safety officer. Lindsey Morton, senior creative services project manager, will moderate the discussion as Dr. Antonucci and Dr. Daneshmand answer audience questions and discuss COVID-19 within our community. The town hall will be live-streamed on Lee Health’s Facebook page and LeeHealth.org. Click here for more information posted on our Facebook event page.
Bright Spots from the Week
As we continue the fight against COVID-19, it is important to reflect and celebrate our health system’s accomplishments along the way. Timothy Dougherty, M.D., an emergency department physician at Cape Coral Hospital, compiled a list of impressive achievements from his week, and we wanted to share! Here are some of the bright spots from the week:
- The Cape Coral Hospital Emergency Department’s poster, Stroke Alert Pit Stop with TPA in CT, was selected as the winner of the Emergency Nurses Association’s EN20X conference Poster Awards Program in the Evidence-Based category.
- For the second year in a row, the Cape Coral Hospital ED was named to the Hall of Honor at the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA).
- For the last three days, Lee Health has discharged more recovered COVID-19 patients than we have admitted patients with COVID-19.
- Douglas Brust, M.D., and his team have treated more than 300 patients with convalescent plasma through Lee Health’s participation in the Mayo Clinic’s Convalescent Plasma study.
- Lee Health has replenished its supply of remdesivir and our infection prevention and pharmacy teams created a quicker path to get it to patients.
- Our care management team has created a framework to provide follow-up care for COVID-19 patients after they receive their diagnosis and return home. This framework includes both Lee Health physicians and other community doctors to reach as much of Southwest Florida as possible. We are expanding this process to care for patients with other diagnoses, such as cellulitis, that require close follow-up care to prevent hospital admissions.
These are just some of the examples Dr. Dougherty shared. We appreciate all of our team members for their hard work and dedication, and we thank Dr. Dougherty for looking for and sharing the bright spots as we continue to provide exceptional care to our community.